“Working with Jon and ArtOrder LLC is something akin to magic. His knowledge of production allows a creative person to let their mind explore vast possibilities with the full knowledge that whatever idea emerges, it can be made. And once the idea is formed, Jon has the creative chops to take an idea and make it orders of magnitude better by amplifying the best parts of the core idea. If you are thinking about working with Art Order, stop thinking about it and DO IT!” ~ Luke Peterschmidt

Luke Peterschmidt and I got to work together at Wizards of the Coast years ago. He went on to create his own gaming company, Fun to 11. Fast forward a few years, and Luke shoots me an email to tell me about this crazy idea they have and wants to know if I know anyone that can help him make plush...that aren't just plush. After a few rousing emails and calls, we were off to the races. A lot of folks have asked about the story behind this product, so I asked Luke to participate in a short interview.

Luke, how did you come up with the idea for Stuffed Scarfs™?My employee had the idea for Stuffed Scarves while working at a fair and seeing all the stuffed animals at the various game booths. He brought the idea up to me one day at work, and within minutes I approved it for production!

What kinds of market research you did you do?None. Well, other than 20+ years working in the geek industry. We were planning on launching the product on Kickstarter, so we were going to let the world tell us if it was a good idea with their Kickstarter backing.

What was the process and how did it go for you?You were able to help us format Jordan’s drawings so that they were usable by the factory that was going to produce it. You found us a vendor, acted as a go-between and helped translate factory-speak into creative-person-speak (and business-person-speak). You helped coordinate any testing we would need, shipping, customs, etc… Good lord, what didn’t you do?

What worked well?Everything felt very fire-and-forget with you. Honestly, that has a lot to do with that I know you and you are an extremely trustworthy person with a (scary) breadth of experience and skills. You also communicate very well.

What didn’t go well?The only thing I can think of is that we spent a good bit of time getting the two different scarf patterns on the same pattern (so one “new fabric fee”). At the end of the day, they just made two different fabric patterns. Didn’t effect us in any way, but we might have used slightly different colors if we knew they were going to make two different fabrics.

What you would do differently?Honestly can’t think of much.

What did you learn from the process?Timelines is a big thing we learned. We also learned things like how easy certain things are to do (like make different color-ways), while other changes were much harder to make.

​IFCC is opening the creative flood gates on 15th February with the start of The Game Challenge 2017. All aspiring, rising and accomplished artist are cordially invited to participate in the 2017 edition where we will be reinventing Earth, biology, technology and the future of living in space. Not a small feat by any standard.

Submit your ideas for characters (humans, half-humans, mech), vehicles and environments and partake in populating one of the largest creative open spaces in the industry. Of course, there are a few guidelines to follow which you can find HERE.Along with being creative, having fun, making new friends and your involvement in a ever evolving artistic

How to turn art into cash

Everyone loves to receive a card, either through the post or by hand. In this crazy fast, faster, fastest instant world that we all live in its worth reflecting that the greeting card is still considered by most as the truly effective way of telling someone you really care.

Producing greeting cards can also be a very cost effective way to create a new revenue stream for the creative that is willing to do the research into the market and build a community for their cards. Lets talk about the 4 things you need...

I can't tell you how many thousands of portfolio reviews I have performed through the years. I've seen some amazing portfolios and I've seen some miserable ones. The one thing that every single portfolio had in common, was that they were ALL filled with art. The thing that set the good apart from the bad portfolios wasn't always the quality of the art either. Rather, the main difference was whether the portfolios were effective in fulfilling upon their intent.

ArtOrder® has heard your calls for online portfolio reviews and mentoring! We know that you are tired of missing out of conversations with industry professionals just because you can't get to the events they attend, or couldn't get a sign-up slot because they sold out in seconds. ArtOrder is working to bring together a mix of industry professionals so that you can grow your career!

Every now and then I find a project that gets me stoked and excited. "Visions of a Thousand Eyes" is one of those projects. - Jon

‘Visions of a Thousand Eyes’ is the most ambitious collection of contemporary fantasy art that you could ever dream of, set in a beautiful 120+ pages art book. To display this unique gem under the best possible light, the art book will be printed as limited hardcover deluxe edition, exclusive to Kickstarter.

I am often asked how to put together an effective crowdfunding campaign. I do not propose to say that I am an expert, but I have spent a lot of time talking to folks that have run very successful campaigns and added their notions to my list. What you find here is my current list of best practices....though it is always morphing and changing as the market continue to grows.

PRE LAUNCH​1. Have one really kick-ass idea. It's not enough to just have an idea - you have to have an idea that cuts through the noise, differentiates itself from the competition, offers a great value proposition, and most importantly, creates/fills a need for your consumer.

The vast majority of creatives that I talk to start out the conversation with "I've been thinking of creating an art book...." While art books are a common subject to talk about, there is a ton of bad information out there about creating your art book. Most of it comes from Print on Demand companies that want to convince you that creating an art book is as easy as uploading a bunch of images and hitting print. While it is true that you can create an art book in that manner, it isn't exactly the best solution for the majority of the professional artists that I work with and who want to create books that are more than just a collection of pretty images. To be really effective with the creation of your art book, you have to know a few things...

For years I've struggled with the notion of figuring out how well my messages were working in various promotional channels. It was a chore pulling together information from my many different systems (MailChimp, Google Analytics, Bing Analytics, Kickstarter, Blog tracking systems, etc.), and even after I had pulled together all the information I often had to make some educated guesses about what was going on. Then, Bitly entered my life...